The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for burning fuel.
Many methods and apparatus are available for burning fuel. However, conventional burners are limited in the scope of their applications and are sensitive to their environments. As a result, conventional methods and apparatus for burning fuel, being specialized, are not individually usable in widely varying and adverse environments.
This drawback of conventional methods and apparatus for burning fuel, namely, the sensitivity to adverse environments also prevents such arrangements from providing a high turn-down ratio. The absence of such a high turn-down ratio prevent such burners from being operated at an economically efficient range of capacity in response to changes in demand.
Conventional burners which have advantageous characteristics are often complex and costly to construct and operate with specialized components which require costly machining. In addition, such burners often require additional components composed of refractory materials to insulate other components of the burner from exposure to excessive heat
Conventional methods and apparatus for burning fuel, having these drawbacks, are inappropriate for wide ranges of applications. They do not appropriately combust either gaseous or liquid fuel in a self-sufficient and self-sustained manner. They do not combust such fuels appropriately both when used alone and in a system in which additional oxygen for combustion is supplied by air outside the system.
Also, conventional arrangements do not have a wide variety of applications for boilers, air heaters, and incinerators including cyclonic combustors. The operation of conventional methods and apparatus for burning fuel limit the miniaturization of fire tube diameters in boiler furnaces and therefore limit the miniaturization of furnace volume and the amount of specific heat release which is possible in such furnaces.
Additionally, when known methods and apparatus for burning premixed fuel in an incinerator are used, there is a limitation on the range of incinerator capacity due to the dangers of flashback at low capacity rates. As a result, conventional methods and apparatus for burning fuel used with incinerators have limitations on reliability, safety, performance and stability especially at reduced capacity.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for burning fuel in widely-varying and adverse environments.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for burning fuel having a high turndown ratio.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for burning fuel which is simple in construction and operation and low in cost to build and operate.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for burning fuel in which refractory materials are not required to insulate the components of the burner from exposure to heat.
It is also an object of the present invention to improve combustion by heating secondary air used in combustion.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for burning fuel in which the fuel and air are well mixed.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for burning fuel in which a liquid fuel may be employed and completely vaporized before the final stage of combustion.
It is also the purpose of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for burning fuel having these qualities which is capable of combusting either gaseous or liquid fuel.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for burning fuel which is self-sufficient and self-sustained in combustion and also usable with a system in which additional oxygen for combustion is supplied by air outside the system.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for burning fuel in which a narrow flame is produced so as to accommodate a boiler furnace having a smaller fire tube diameter and high burner gas exit velocity, to provide an intense combustion and relatively high heat transfer rate to the furnace walls and which allow the furnace volume to be significantly smaller.
It is additionally an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for burning fuel which can be used in air heaters to produce the same advantages described above in boilers.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for burning fuel which is usable with a liquid and gaseous waste incinerator by accomplishing a quick and intensive fuel combustion separated from the waste incineration process and used as a heat generator, so that the area of the incinerator chamber in which combustion occurs is a relatively small portion of the total area of the incinerator chamber.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for burning fuel which can be used with a cyclonic incinerator to significantly improve the incinerator's reliability, safety, performance, and its stability, especially at reduced units capacity.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.